(I have a playlist in iTunes called “one-word titles”, and one of the things I do with it is hit shuffle, take the first six songs, and write sestinas. Here’s one.)

It’s Tuesday night and I’m fifteen minutes late for rehearsalAgain, same as the last five weeks. Maybe I can be forgiven–
Stuck in the daily pushing of paper and red tape at work,
I left an hour ago, got stuck in traffic–so my bandmates rejoice,
At least, at my being able to make it at all, their desire
To have me with them playing bass trumping something

Like impatience. I’m here; that has to count for something,
Right? Right. We have a gig Saturday, so rehearsal
Feels less like something born of our old youthful desires
(For which we had to be perpetually forgiven
By homework and obligation, in which we didn’t rejoice)
And more like the reality of sweaty, calloused work–

“Ben, I told you once, you’ve really got to work
On keeping the beat–” “You want to know something?
“What?” “I freaking hate this song.” (And inwardly we rejoice
At the tics, the friction, because it leads to the desire
To be better, to love more, and because it’s easily forgiven
By our comrades in war and fiction). We rehearse

Andrew’s new number–“Did you guys go over this last rehearsal
Without me?” “Yeah, we tried to work
On the chorus a little–Ginny comes in on the ‘Forgive
The old and new things’, we decided it needed something
There.” “Oh, and then Eddie holds out that long ‘Desiiiiiiiiire’
In the bridge, right?” “Right, yeah.” “Rejoice,

Brothers, the club in San Diego called–” And rejoice
We do, another justification for all this rehearsal
In Ginny and Eddie’s garage, for the desire
To make some freaking noise, for having to work
Two jobs to support our music habit, the something
Inside us that makes us want to forgive

The whole world for what they couldn’t forgive
Us of, the passion and need to rejoice
In the sheer sound of it, the need to do something
Beautiful in the world–but my mind snaps back to rehearsal,
My fingers thump the bass’s neck, and we get to the work
Of tuning and listening and fulfilling desire…

It’s just rehearsal; it feels like something
More important than work, than even desire–
With each note, I forgive, and then I rejoice.

1. I just finished (literally, about five minutes ago) J.P. Moreland’s Love Your God With All Your Mind,a book on how Christians need to have a well-developed intellectual life (something I have been sorely lacking lately), and it has me thinking: In evangelical circles, generally speaking, there aren’t a lot of women who are intellectually engaged in theology or philosophy or what have you. Granted, there are exceptions to this, and I’m privileged to know some of them, but we tend to leave serious theological study up to the boys. (If you need an example, look at any evangelical book catalog, and look at the titles written by men and those written by women.)

Sisters, we need to be engaged in the serious study of God’s Word and of our culture, both for our own edification and that of others. We may not be called to be pastors or scholars, but since when has that let any lay person off the hook? I am trying to pursue this in my own life; I encourage you to do the same.

2. If anyone busts out the “men are more intellectual, women are more emotional” clause in response to that last point, I WILL PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE. (Yes, I realize the underlying irony of that last statement. Whatever.)

3. One of the really bad side effects of being a voracious reader: My to-be-read pile has gotten huge. Obscenely so, really. It is threatening to take over my desk–which, granted, isn’t much of a feat since I have a tiny desk, but still. That’s a lot of books. I’ve been slowing down since the beginning of the year, which only means that this pile is going to be staring me in the face longer. Help.

4. Reader survey (and the first of the year, if I have my facts straight):

a) So, I’ve told you what I’m reading–what are you reading?

b) What was the last movie you watched?

c) If you were given $10,000 and were told that you had to do something for someone else with it, what would you do, and for whom?

d) What’s one thing you’d say you’re really good at? (Negative things are not allowed. Seriously, what are you really good at?)